A Man with Hatred in His Heart

[Ian McKay]

A Man with Hatred in His Heart

A few years ago on Peebs.net an angry man with hatred in his heart expressed a death wish against Bruce D. Hales. I objected, closely followed by several others, and the Webmaster removed the offending post.

Unfortunately the Brethren appear to have no similar procedure for objecting to equally offensive sentiments when they fall from the lips of the same Bruce D. Hales. His words get duly printed and distributed in ministry books. Could it be that the Brethren don’t see anything wrong with a death wish directed against a member or an ex-member? Surely that can’t be true? Or maybe they secretly disapprove, but dare not challenge anything Bruce D. Hales says, no matter how wicked it may be.

The rat poison ministry was not a slip of the tongue or an isolated lapse of discretion. It was rather similar to the unseemly rant against Steve Jobs, when B. D. Hales was explicitly rejoicing at his death. And it reminded me of reports of Brethren holding special prayer meetings to pray that God will remove wicked persons. This was at a time when Richard Stay and Laurie Moffitt were active in publishing criticisms of the Brethren. If these reports of special prayer meetings were true, they were rather reminiscent of witches incanting a spell to bring about the death of an enemy, and they were about equally unchristian. And then there was the ministry about shooting yourself or hanging yourself if you have been communicating ministry to outsiders. These examples all paint a consistent picture of the lamentable moral state of the Brethren leadership, and the inability of his editors or friends to curb his excesses.

Here is the ministry extract that contains an explicit death wish, rather like an Ayatollah’s fatwa or a tinker’s curse. This one saddened me more than any of the other examples.

Ministry of B. D. Hales Vol. 112 page 190 (Sydney, 18 June 2011)

Of course, if persons leave you and go, well then, you have to consider the whole thing, and say, Well, what more could we have done? And then we can cast them on the Lord, and hope that in His grace He breaks them down in His government, you pray that His government might come in. Better to die than keep on sinning, much better. The quicker you die the better. If you want, some of you young fellows here going on sinning, well, I would say, The quicker you die the better.
. . .
I'm quite serious about that, any young fellows here don't want to give up their sins, well, die, die. We'll all be better off, and you'll be far better off too, because you can't sin after you die,

The Bible and Gospel Trust claims copyright of the above quotation.

[The Questioner]

And the B&GT are welcome to their association with this evil.

[Nottachurch]

My first thought was - surely he must have been drunk when he said this. But I fear that is giving him too much of an excuse, because I know this is how the peebs have been taught to think, in their heart of hearts, about people who 'leave the light of the assembly position'. This nonsense has been indoctrinated into them for decades. It's interesting that BDH actually came out and SAID it though, in a meeting which was to be printed....

[fisherman]

'Actually came out and SAID it in a meeting which was to be printed'...not to worry,they can always ' recall it for accuracies sake'...( it's an 'individual exercise' )

[twotimothytwo]

18th June 2011 was a Saturday. Usual PBCC meeting time on a Saturday 9am. I suppose he could still have been drunk from the previous evening!

[brother John]

Or he maybe had whisky with his wheatabix.

[fisherman]

I know one thing for absolute certainty, when people are alcoholics( and no alcoholic ever admits they are one ) eventually the booze gets to them and they lose all sense of propriety ....irreversible alcoholic dementia .....look no further than 'Our Beloved' for a prime example( and yes,even his OWN family admits he was an alcoholic...)

[The Erect Vessel]

Better to die than keep on sinning, much better. The quicker you die the better. If you want, some of you young fellows here going on sinning, well, I would say, The quicker you die the better.

In my take on that - it is an incitement for people to commit suicide.

This from the untopplable leader of the peebs.

Often people have mood swings and after having read that or worse still listen to that bilge out of his chops, and if that person was in a low state anyway, (and who wouldn't be in there!), in the wrong place with added booze in them (a probability rather than a possibility) - there is no saying that it isn't enough to tip someone over the edge.

I hope the authorities see this and do something about him before he does any more damage.

Just awful.

[Balaam's Ass]

You can't say Bruce in Canada, eh, Erect Vessel?

[Ian McKay]

Some readers don’t believe these quotations of EB ministry are authentic. I can understand their scepticism. I could hardly believe my own eyes. So by way of further confirmation and to provide more of the context, here is an image of the printed page just as it came from the BGT. This is page 190 of volume 112 of BDH’s ministry. The Bible and Gospel Trust claims the copyright of this.